Do you think it's time for a Giveaway? Well, I think it is! It has been very cold in Holland the last few weeks, and Spring seems very far away so we all need some happy stuff, and I hope this Giveaway is going to make you very happy :-) I'm going to give away my book Slingers Haken (crocheting garlands) to three of my followers. This book was published by Forte Uitgevers, the same publisher that published my first book. I think everybody in Holland and Belgium owns a book of Forte Uitgevers. Check the website of Forte Uitgevers or like Forte Uitgevers on Facebook. On the Facebook- page of Forte Uitgevers you'll find a craft suggestion every week, so it's worth visiting that page every now and then.

How you can win my book Slingers Haken? Leave a comment below and I'll announce the three winners this Saturday. Good luck!

I love making blankets, so when I had a little spare time just recently I started looking for a fun pattern. Actually I wanted to make a granny blanket, but I didn't feel like crocheting or sewing all squares together. And so I ended up with this pattern from Lucy of Attic24. In the beginning you have to pay attention a little, but once you've made a few rows it's pretty easy. I'll be busy with this one for some time I guess, because I want to make a nice big blanket this time. I've casted on about 160 stitches with this crochet hook 4mm and Drops Paris, so it's going to be a pretty wide blanket. And although it's supposed to be Spring and lovely weather in The Netherlands, it's very cold here so it's nice to have this blanket on my lap right now.

Of all books that were published lately this book really made me smile. No, it's not a crochet book. It's a book filled with knitting patterns of de Oranjes (our Royal Family). In this book you'll find knitting patterns of Juliana, Bernhard, Beatrix, Claus, Willem-Alexander, Maxima and the princesses. The fun thing is that with every chapter you'll find more information about the history of our royal family. And that's how you'll probably read about all sorts of things you didn't know about them. About the inauguration (that will take place on the 30th of April in Amsterdam), about the encounter between Beatrix and Claus, about the princesses and lots more. I really think it's a fun book. By the way, the knitting patterns are very clear, and in the first part of the book you'll find a good description of all knitting stitches. Perhaps it's time I'll try to find my knitting needles somewhere! ;-)*** The book is available here ***

Do you want to collect some fun patterns for Spring? Then you really should visit the website of AllFreeCrochet. The book above is an e-book, and you can download it for free. You'll find 11 flower patterns, and one of the patterns are my Pencil Flowers. Do you want to download this fun book? Then click here to go to the website of AllFreeCrochet and click "Get My Free eBook".

Look what I got! The crochet hook in the upper right corner has a very pretty leather soft grip with my name on it! I got it from Nicolle who has a very cute Etsy-shop where she sells - amongst others - these crochet hooks with leather grip. You can choose from a few standard leather grips, but you can also get your own custom made grip and choose the word or the name that has to be printed on it. Now how cool is it that Nicolle is willing to give away a crochet hook with leather soft grip to one of my readers? If you win you'll receive a crochet hook with your name on it. Isn't that fun? To enter the competition you can leave a comment below. The winner will be announced this Saturday.Can't wait until Saturday? You'll get a 10% discount in the Etsy-shop of Nicole with the coupon code CROCHET. And did you already see that it's free shipping worldwide? Head over to her shop now by clicking here. Enjoy!p.s. Nicolle also has a very cute blog, you can find it here.

We have a guest blogger today! Read all about Margriet de Muinck and her book 'Kleurrijke Cadeautjes haken". You can purchase this book here.

Hello! I'm Margriet de Muinck, author of the crochet book "Kleurrijke Cadeautjes haken". I'm 44 years old and I live in Zuidhorn (Groningen), I'm married to the sweetest man in the world, mother of Robin, a son of 16 years old, and mom of Willemijn (a pug), Joep (labrador), Keesjebeesje and Bella (cats). I remarried 2,5 years ago and I wanted something else then the usual flowers from the florist, so I crocheted 40 corsages for the wedding guests. Pink/red for the ladies, green/blue (Catania Color) for the men. With matching ribbons and for the kids with beads and with letter beads their names in it. I learned to crochet by watching You Tube movies, and I learned very quickly. I made another 100 flowers for a scarf (but that ended up to be a table runner ;-))

After those projects I made whatever possible, but I used a lot of other materials with it, like wood, pictures frames, stones, buttons, ribbons and.. beads. Because I've been working with beads all my life. I give workshops jewelry making for children, that's a lot of fun to do! More and more people I knew wanted to learn to crochet as well so I started giving crochet workshops as well. Those who are anxious to learn more can come to follow-up workshops so I can teach them even more tips and trics.

With my jewelry and other handmade items I was on several crafty fairs and I added crochet products and good cotton to it. My blooming stall got noticed by another stall owner (and as I learned later on a co-author as well Jo An Luijken from Wolhalla) and she adviced Forte Publishers to get in touch with me. After thinking it over for some time I decided to go for it and voila, my first book is here! It took me three-quarters of a year: writing, trying, writing again, trying again, pictures, test prints, trying again... it was a very fun thing to do!

Every day I'm looking for new ideas. Pinterest is my favourite pastime. There are so many pretty things to crochet! I do love the smaller projects. Making a poncho, a blanket or a vest is more something for my crochet friend Annelies (I call her Annelies Thalys, she's so fast!). My style is colourful, but the disadvantage of that is having to fasten off so many times ;-) But, the more colours a project has, the prettier I think it is! And I'd love to pimp it with beads and ribbons to complete it.

At the moment I'm very busy looking for another job as well (I'm an ICT-project manager) because my former employer had to let me and my 170 colleagues go because of the economic circumstances. But that gives me the time to spend a lot of time on my hobby: crochet and getting my webshop all filled with fun crochet items. It's not possible to live from this, but to make somebody happy with a fun package or to make someone enthousiastic for crochet is fulfilling enough for me!

I'd been looking for an object to hang fun things in and then I found this tree here. I've hung a lot of hearts in it. When I ordered the tree I doubted whether I wanted the white one of this one, but I chose this one because I thought I could paint it. Perhaps I'm going to make it white after all. Or maybe I'm going to use chalkboard paint for it. Or maybe magnetic paint zo I can put little notes on it. But for now it's looking pretty happy with all the hearts in it.